When In Rome, Do As Wiccans Do
by Princess Pinky
Summary: When Piper, Phoebe, and Paige go on a vacation in Rome, they end up traveling back in time to ancient Rome. Without powers, they don't know how to get home. Back in the present, Cole and Leo search heaven and hell for them, literally. [School Project.]


A/N: This fanfiction was actually a school assignment. I wrote this for a History project on three (3) wonders of ancient Rome (the Colosseum, Julius Caesar, and the Roman bathes).

_**When In Rome, Do As Wiccans Do**_

A brilliant swirl of baby blue and white glowing orbs formulated in the center of a huge hotel room, then a young woman with pale skin and flowing dark chocolate brown hair appeared, holding onto two large suitcases. "Well, that's the last of them." Paige Matthews called out, as she stood up and stretched her arms. "Piper? Phoebe?" She asked, aloud. Her dark brown eyes scanned the room and she made her way to the bathroom. "Hello?"

"Paige?"

Paige jumped, spinning around and smacking right into her elder half sister. "Piper! Hey, where were you?"

"Pheebs and I went to get some mocha cappuccinos," Piper Halliwell replied. She held out a drink to her youngest sister.

"Oh, caffeine!" Paige grinned. She took the cup and greedily gulped some down, as a contended look crossed her pale, yet beautiful, features.

"Addict," Piper smirked.

"It's a Halliwell trait," Phoebe Halliwell called from the other side of the room. She flopped down on the massive bed and sprawled out her arms and legs. "Man, I'm so glad we're getting an entire week off from demon fighting!"

Piper, Phoebe, and Paige are The Charmed Ones; the most powerful witches in the world and the protectors of the innocent. When joined together, they wielded The Power Of Three, and were an almost unstoppable force of good. Each sister has a special power: Piper had the ability to freeze, by stopping the molecules in an object, as well as causing things to explode, by making the molecules in an object speed up until the point of combustion. Phoebe had the ability to see the past, present, and future which were called premonitions and the ability to levitate, which means she can float herself in mid air with only the power of her mind. Paige had a multitude of abilities from her doubly magical backgrounds as half witch and half whitelighter, the product of an affair between her Mother and her Mother's whitelighter, Sam Wilder. Paige can orb, which is a fancy way of teleporting herself, and she can telekinetically orb, which means she can orb objects with her mind. Her other powers include sensing evil, partial healing, shapeshifting, and sensing. Paige was given up at birth to protect her and the rest of the family, because love between witches and whitelighters was forbidden. But when Prue, the eldest Charmed One and the original telekinetic sister, died, Paige was magically summoned to her sisters by a spell cast by Piper. Paige joined her sisters and reconstituted The Power Of Three and together they vanquished the demon that had taken the life of the eldest Halliwell sister.

Piper crossed the room and seated herself next to Phoebe. "Don't say that!" She waved her index finger in Phoebe's face. "Whenever you say that, something bad happens!"

Phoebe's lips formed into a tight smirk. "Oh Piper, you're just too tightly wound!" She sat up and placed her hands on her elder sister's shoulders, gently massaging them. "Loosen up."

Piper, fighting against letting her guard down, closed her eyes. "We're The Charmed Ones, Phoebe. We can't relax."

Paige took another gulp of her drink and seated herself on the opposite bed. "Come on, Piper! We're in Rome!" She spread her arms out, to further emphasize her point. "And you know how the old saying goes, 'When in Rome, do as Romans do!'"

Phoebe nodded eagerly. "Exactly!"

Paige waved her hand at the closed curtains. "Curtains, open!" Blue and white orbs enveloped the curtains, when the lights vanished, the curtains were opened and the hot Roman sunshine poured through the clear glass.

"Paige!" Piper scolded, jumping to her feet. "Personal gain!"

Paige's eyes shifted away from her sister's. "Would the Romans care about personal gain?"

Piper's brow furrowed.

"But Piper," Paige whined. "We're on vacation! Why can't we be on vacation from magical rules too?"

"Because, Paige, it just doesn't work that way!" Piper sighed heavily and placed her hand to her forehead. "Look, can we please just try not to use magic on this trip, unless we absolutely have to?"

Paige's strawberry lips slid into a pout and her eyes did their trademark roll. "Fine," she sadly agreed.

Piper let a smile cross her lips. "Leo!" She yelled, as she looked up at the cream colored ceiling.

In another formation of orbs, similar to Paige's, a handsome blonde man appeared. Leo Wyatt wrapped his arms around his wife and gently planted a kiss on her lips. "Hey, beautiful." Leo was also a whitelighter, which was like an angel for witches. He and Piper had fought for a long time to be together and The Elders, Leo's 'bosses,' had finally allowed it.

"I think we're ready to go explore Rome now."

Leo looked at his sisters-in-law, for approval. Both nodded their heads in agreement. He opened his mouth, but was abruptly cut off by Phoebe.

"Where's Cole?"

The air behind Phoebe began to shift and shimmer, much-like how the air around a BBQ looks. Then a tall man with short, black hair and piercing blue eyes appeared. He wrapped his arms around Phoebe and kissed her neck. "You called?"

Phoebe giggled and leaned into Cole's arms. "Hey baby."

Paige frowned; she'd never been too fond of the half demon. "Let's go! We only have a week!" She waved her hand towards the door, as she brushed past her sisters.

"I'll meet you in the lobby," Phoebe called. "I have to get my camera."

Piper took her husband's hand and pulled him towards the door. "Don't be too long."

Phoebe waved her sister out the door and then she padded over to her luggage which Paige had easily orbed over, rummaged through a dark green duffle bag, and then triumphantly pulled out a black camera. It had been one of Prue's old cameras and she wanted to make sure that Prue could experience the trip as well. _What better way than bringing something that she really cherished along?_ Phoebe thought, as she slipped the strap of the camera around her neck.

"Ready?" Cole asked.

"Let me fill my fanny pack with film." Phoebe gently placed a few extra rolls of film into her lime green fanny pack and zipped it tightly. She crossed the room, to the window and stared out over the city. "Wow," she breathed. She placed Prue's camera to her eyes and focused it over as much of the city as she could fit into the lens, then she clicked a button on her index finger, and heard the camera snap a picture. She gently brought the camera down and let it hang from her neck again. "I'm ready." She made her way over to Cole, who wrapped his arm around her waist, and the couple made their way out of the room.

* * *

"Oh my gosh!" Paige exclaimed, as she waved her hands wildly in front of her. "I so cannot believe I'm standing in front of the Roman Colosseum!"

Piper rolled her large, brown eyes. "It's not like people haven't done it before, Paige."

Paige wrinkled her nose. "Oh lighten up, sis. I mean, I never thought I'd be here."

"I bet ya never thought you'd be a witch either, did ya?" Phoebe quipped.

"Phoebe!" Piper snapped, giving her younger sister a slap on the back of her head. "Shh!"

"Paige's right. Lighten up." Phoebe replied, as she snapped a shot of the Colosseum. Then she handed Prue's old camera to her boyfriend. "Cole, sweetie, will you take a picture of us?" She batted her eyelashes, making herself irresistible to Cole.

"Fine," Cole sighed. "How about…you stand right over there?" He pointed towards a weathered, yellowed wall.

"Okie dokie." Phoebe chirped, as she walked over to the wall and motioned to her sisters. "Come on!"

Paige walked over to Phoebe and then gently ran her hand across the ancient stone. "Wow."

Phoebe spun her sister around. "This way."

Piper walked over to her remaining sisters, looking a little annoyed. She stepped in the center and wrapped her arms around the shoulders of her sisters.

Cole placed the camera to his eye and zoomed in on the Halliwell sisters, and then just as he clicked the button, a red vortex appeared behind The Charmed Ones. "Look out!"

Phoebe's eyes darted behind her, as she felt herself and her sisters get sucked into the vortex's vacuum type grip, and then they were gone.

"Phoebe!" Cole yelled, running to the now empty spot. "Leo's gonna kill me!"

* * *

The vortex reopened, spitting out The Charmed Ones, onto the hard ground. "Ouch," Paige moaned, as she rubbed her thigh and stumbled to her feet. "What just happened?"

"I think we were just sucked up by a vortex," Phoebe replied.

"Thanks, Pheebs," Piper snapped, sarcastically. "Like I didn't realize."

"Try to orb us back." Phoebe said, taking her younger sister's hand. But before Paige could respond, a giant metal door lifted open, letting hot sunlight flood in.

Paige covered her eyes. "Pi…" Her voice trailed off, as her ears filled with the sound of a deep growling. "Uh, Piper…" The three sisters made their way into the sunlight, coming out to find themselves directly before a massive lion.

Piper instinctively raised her hands, attempting to freeze the beast in its tracks.

"Piper!" Phoebe yelled.

"It's not working!" Piper grabbed Paige's other hand. "Orb! Orb!"

Paige closed her eyes, but when she opened them, they were still there. "I've got no juice!"

"Uh oh." Phoebe gulped.

"So what do we do?" Piper asked, taking a few steps backwards.

"Run!" Phoebe screamed, as the lion lunged at them. The three sisters scattered in different directions. Then a rumbling of cheers and screams filled the air. Phoebe stopped and took the moment to examine her surroundings; she was standing in the center of the Colosseum, but it wasn't 2001 anymore. The Colosseum looked brand new and full to the brim with Roman people, who seemed to be cheering as the lion raced after Piper. _Wait, Piper! Oh no!_ There was no way she was going to let that lion take down her sister. She went into a dead run, after the lion.

* * *

"You what!" Leo raged, as he paced around the room.

"I took a picture, Leo! Then this red vortex popped out of nowhere and wham, they were gone!" Cole defended, angrily.

"I'm going to go talk to The Elders," Leo said calmly. "You go to the Underworld and see if you can find any news."

"Right," Cole replied. "We'll meet back here in, say, twenty minutes?"

"Fine." Leo orbed out, as Cole shimmered away.

* * *

Phoebe reached Piper and shoved her to the ground, as the lion pounced over their heads. "Hurry!" Phoebe yelled, as she pulled herself and her sister to their feet and tugged her away, as another wave of noise filled the Colosseum. "I think we time traveled, somehow. We accidentally ended up back in one of the death matches, at the Roman Colosseum." She waved her hand at the rows and rows of people that were sitting in the partially shaded, by the white fabric that was swaying in the wind at the very top of the Colosseum.

"Great!" Piper hissed, as her eyes darted around the gigantic stage and she spotted Paige running for her life. "Oh my God! Paige!" As adrenaline filled her body, she went running after her baby sister.

"I've been through worse, I've been through worse, I've been through…" Paige recited, as she ran under the blistering sun in her new stilettos. Suddenly she felt her ankle twist, as she came sliding into the hot sand. _Help!_ She thought.

"Over here, kitty!" Piper yelled, as she waved her arms in the air, catching the huge feline's attention.

Paige looked up, taking her mind off the pain of her ankle. "Piper, no!"

The lion stopped and stood equally between the sisters, not sure who to go after. Then, making a quick choice, he went back to Paige, because she was hurt.

"Spell!" Phoebe screamed, as she came running up behind Piper.

Spell! Yes, a spell! Paige thought. "Lion, lion in my sight…." Her mind raced. _What goes good with that?_ Her eyes lit up. "Shackles and chains shall hold you tight!" A flare of red light encircled the lion and when it had gone, the lion was trapped in a bundle of shackles and chains. _Thank Goddess!_

Paige thought. "Lion, lion in my sight…." Her mind raced. Her eyes lit up. "Shackles and chains shall hold you tight!" A flare of red light encircled the lion and when it had gone, the lion was trapped in a bundle of shackles and chains. 

Piper and Phoebe made their way to their sister. "Are you okay?"

Paige raised her eyebrows.

"Right, sorry." Phoebe apologized, reaching for her sister's arm. "Good spell."

"Thanks."

Piper took Paige's other arm, and then they suddenly found themselves being sucked into another crimson vortex.

* * *

Piper, Phoebe, and Paige tumbled across the ground as the vortex spit them out again. "What is up with this?" Piper asked, rhetorically. Her ears perked up, as she heard loud cheers of joy.

Paige rubbed her slowly swelling ankle. "Ow."

"We need to take care of that." Phoebe stated. "Piper, why don't you go guard…" She looked around, seeing that they were in sort of an ancient alley. "The entrance, so I can put a temporary fix on Paige's ankle."

"Sure," Piper replied, distantly. "Just be quick, okay?"

"Of course," Phoebe replied. She kneeled next to her baby sister, as her elder sister walked to the edge of the alley way. "Let's see here." Phoebe muttered, as she examined Paige's swollen ankle. "Ouch."

"Can we say, 'duh'?" Paige sniped.

"Sorry." Phoebe pulled Paige's stiletto off her foot and smacked it on the ground.

"Hey!" Paige yelped.

"It's not like you can walk in it!" Phoebe reasoned, as she pulled the heel of the shoe, and then ripped the sleeve off of her own shirt. Phoebe carefully placed the broken heel next to Paige's ankle, and then wrapped the fabric from her shirt around Paige's ankle and the heel, ending it with a tight knot. "That should keep for now." She slid the broken stiletto back on Paige's foot.

"But…"

"Oh, right!" Phoebe exclaimed. She did a quick maneuver with her hands, a martial arts skill, and the heel on the second stiletto fell off. "Now you won't hurt your other heel." She put the broken heel in her pocket. "Just in case we need it later."

Paige let out a moan, as Phoebe helped her to her feet. "Those were new."

"Hey, guys!" Piper yelled. "I think you two need to see this!" Without taking her eyes away from the street, she motioned behind her back to her sisters.

Phoebe raised her eyebrows, as she helped Paige over to Piper. "What?"

Piper pointed to a large crowd in the center of the street.

"Who's there?" Paige asked, poking her head above her sisters.

"Just watch," Piper stated. As the three sisters watched, a man made his way out of the crowd.

"Long live Rome!" The man's voice echoed through the street, followed by a barrage of cheers.

"Is that who I think it is?" Paige asked, remembering her elementary school history lessons.

"I think so." Piper murmured.

"Julius Caesar!" The crowd, oblivious to The Charmed Ones' arrival, screamed out.

* * *

Cole shimmered in, anxiously looking for Leo, in the hopes that he would have had more luck.

"Cole, get down!" Leo yelled, as his head popped up from over the bed.

Cole shimmered out, barely missing a pair of fireballs. Then he shimmered back in, behind the bed next to Leo. "Hold on," he whispered, then stood up and charged an energy ball in each hand. With one swift wave, he threw the energy ball into the attacking demons and they exploded. "Okay, done. About the girls. Did you find them?"

"Do you think I'd be facing demons without them, if I had?" Leo asked. He sighed angrily. "The Elders are clueless."

"As usual," Cole muttered under his breath.

"What?"

"Nothing."

* * *

"I think he's charging up the Roman army, to revolt against their leaders!" Phoebe said, excitedly. "Because look at what their wearing, it's traditional Roman army clothes."

"When did you become so historically accurate about Rome?" Paige asked.

"What? Can't a girl just be smart?" Phoebe defended.

Piper narrowed her eyes.

"Fine, fine," Phoebe huffed. "I like watching The Discovering Channel, so sue me!"

"They sure had strange looking helmets." Paige commented.

"Mhmm." Piper murmured.

A small rat scurried across the ground, brushing against Piper's feet, causing her to raise her hands and scream.

Everything became very quiet, as all Roman eyes set on the strangely dressed women. "Who dares spy on us?"

Piper gave a nervous laugh. "No harm, we mean no harm…"

"Sieze them!"

"Oh no, not again!" Paige yelled, as she limped forward.

Piper placed her hand around Paige's waist, steadying her.

Phoebe let Paige put her arm around her shoulders, to keep the weight off of her hurt ankle. "We really gotta…" She saw the vortex appear out of the corner of her eye. "Brace yourselves!" She yelled, as they were sucked up, yet again.

* * *

There was a loud splash, as The Charmed Ones splashed into a huge pool of greenish water. "Yuck!"

Piper stood up, pulled Paige up with her. "Is everyone okay?"

"I suppose," Paige winced. "I wish Leo was here, though." She looked around at the huge stone walls and the nasty green liquid that surrounded her.

"Whoa!" Phoebe exclaimed. "I think we're in the…."

"Public bathes!" Piper and Paige cut in, in unison. "We know, Pheebs. It's not like we don't know that much about Rome."

"I just wonder what time period we're in?" Piper said, more to herself than to her sisters.

Paige pointed to a pair of Roman sandals, on one of the stone steps. "I think it's safe to say that we aren't in our own."

Piper cringed, as she led herself and Paige out of the water. "Gross."

"I wonder why we keep moving?" Phoebe wondered, aloud.

"Well you know, it's every time the three of us get together. When we all seem to be connected, physically." Paige commented.

"Good point!" Phoebe said, with a nod.

"But why?" Piper asked.

"Because there's a ripple in time," an all too familiar voice replied, from behind them.

Piper and Phoebe turned around, with their hearts thudding. "Oh my God! Prue!"

Prudence Halliwell smiled at her younger sisters. Instead of wearing the traditional long white dress, she's decided to come in a knee length white dress, without a back. "Looks like you've had quite an adventure."

Not wanting to abandon Paige, Piper and Phoebe stood where they were at, even though their hearts were crying out to hold Prue. "Yeah, I guess so." Piper said, as tears formed in her eyes.

Prue walked over to her sisters, giving Piper and Phoebe tight hugs. Then she looked to Paige and wrapped her arms around her as well. "I'm so glad I was finally able to meet you!"

Paige could feel the tears forming in her eyes too, something she never expected. But somehow, Prue had made her feel so welcome, just after meeting her. "You too."

Prue steadied Paige against her and then nodded to her sisters. "It's okay, I've got it from here."

"What are you doing here? How'd you find us?" Piper asked, although she had other questions that could wait.

"Melinda had a premonition that you guys were sucked back in time." Prue replied.

"Melinda?" Phoebe asked.

"Warren?" Paige questioned.

"Yeah, Melinda Warren." Prue smiled approvingly of her baby sister. "The Elders didn't know what happened."

"Typical," Piper quipped.

Paige nodded.

"But once Melinda had the premonition, they knew where to look. Anyway, they think that there is a huge time ripple over Rome. So when you guys got together, your combined magic caused it to open and suck you in." Prue explained.

"So how do we get home?" Phoebe asked.

"The Power Of Four."

"What?" Piper, Phoebe, and Paige asked in unison.

"The four of us take hands and used The Power Of Four to focus on going home. With the added power, I think we can do it. Then when we get back to our time, we say a spell to fix the ripple." Prue said.

"That's crazy enough to work," Phoebe replied.

"Well let's get home then!" Piper said, as she walked over to her eldest sister.

"Wait one minute!" Phoebe said, as she pulled a mini digital camera from her pocket. "Prue, do you have your powers right now?"

Prue nodded. "Since I'm a spirit, I can go back in time with my powers."

"Good." Phoebe took a stand next to Paige. "Take the photo, please? I want one of all four of us."

"Of course." Prue replied.

Phoebe walked over to her sisters and focused the camera. "Prue?"

Prue waved her hand, using her telekinetic abilities to hold the camera in the right place, and then Phoebe took her position next to Paige.

"On three."

"No," Paige protested. "On four."

Prue grinned. "On four. One, two, three, four!"

The sisters all gave their best smiles, as Prue used her telekinesis to press the button and take a photo. As she pulled the camera back into her hand, the red vortex appeared. "Think home, guys!" Then they were all sucked into its powerful grasp.

* * *

Prue, Piper, Phoebe, and Paige stumbled out of the vortex to the spot where they'd vanished the first time. "Yes!" Prue quickly pulled out the spell to fix the ripple over Rome, the sisters joined hands and read it, and then they felt a cold whistle of wind and knew that everything was as it should be.

"Can you orb us to the hotel?" Piper asked, as she looked around to make sure there were no people around to see them.

"I think so," Paige replied. She closed her eyes and the sisters vanished in swirls of blue and white orbs.

* * *

Paige orbed herself and her sisters inside the hotel, and then she crumpled to the floor.

"Leo!" Piper yelled.

Leo instantly orbed in. "Piper!" He exclaimed, planting a kiss on her cheek. "I've been worried sick!"

"Enough time for explanations later. Heal Paige's ankle now!" Piper ordered.

Leo knelt down next to his youngest sister-in-law and placed his hands over her swollen ankle; a golden glow emanated from his hands and Paige's ankle returned to normal.

"Too bad you can't work your magic on shoes too," Paige said, as she motioned to her broken stilettos.

"Sorry." Leo replied, which was when he noticed Prue. "Prue!"

"Hey, Leo, what's up?" Prue asked, casually.

"Where? H-how? When?" He stuttered.

"We'll explain later." Piper promised, as Cole shimmered in.

"Phoebe!"

"Cole!" Phoebe ran into Cole's arms.

"I was so worried!"

Phoebe grinned. "You're so sweet!"

Prue frowned. "He's still here?" She'd never liked Cole.

"Yeah," Paige replied, a bit unhappily.

Prue smirked. "I think I like you even more."

"Ditto." Paige replied.

"Guys, I have to go." Prue said.

Everyone stopped in their tracks. "What?"

"I have to go," Prue repeated. "I'm so sorry!"

"Why? You just got here!" Paige protested.

"I'm sorry." Prue replied, as her sisters surrounded her in one massive four-way hug. Prue let her eyes close, as she hugged her sisters. "I love you guys!"

"We love you too!" Piper, Paige, and Phoebe chorused.

"And I'm so proud of all of you!" Prue said. "Especially you, Paige."

Paige blushed. "Thanks."

"Stay safe," Prue said. Then she vanished, in a swirl of glittering white lights.

The remaining people stood in silence, reliving the moments they'd just shared.

* * *

"Piper! Paige!" Phoebe yelled, from the kitchen.

Piper and Paige came running in. It had only been three days since their vacation ended. "Where's the demon?" Piper raised her hands, ready to blast some evil being.

"No, not a demon," Phoebe replied. "I wanted to show you this." She motioned to her laptop, as her sisters loomed behind her.

"Oh my gosh!" Piper said, as tears formed in her eyes.

"It's so perfect!" Paige exclaimed, as she stared at the picture that Prue had taken with Phoebe's digital camera.

"No, it gets better!" Phoebe said, as she pulled the framed photo from her lap and held it up to her sisters. "It can go right between the one of the three of us and the one of Prue, Piper, and I."

"Let's go." Paige said, eagerly. She and her sisters made their way into the living room, where the other two pictures were kept.

"Paige, I think you should to the honors." Phoebe said.

Paige looked to Piper, who nodded. Then she gently took the picture and placed it lovingly between the already existing pictures. "Who would have guessed that we'd finally meet, soaking wet, in the ancient Roman bathes?" Paige laughed, as her sisters wrapped their arms around her and they all stared at the perfect picture.


End file.
